• natural areas,  reflections

    Connecting through communicating

    I have come to realize how poor a communicator I have been in the past. How well I may think I have expressed a thought is always limited and I need to accept that fact. How well I think I have listened and understood is always going to be limited and I need to accept that fact. In my experience learning to communicate in these later years of my life has been a wonderful adventure. I find it enjoyable to converse with someone who is also willing and open to learning the craft of communications. It is at these times we connect, come to understand each other and find our differences may be gifts rather than obstacles.

    Cattails along the edge of Big Bass pond at Arapaho Bend Natural Area

    “Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.”

    Hermann Hesse
  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes,  reflections,  sunsets

    It is within each of us…

    Sunset at Running Deer Natural Area

    The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.

    Black Elk
  • bicycling,  clouds,  landscape,  quotes,  sunrises

    Growing through life’s challenges…

    Predawn light over campus on my bicycle ride to coffee

    You have countless opportunities to grow through life’s challenges—in other words, to become an ever more fully, deeply human human being. This is the meaning of the Yiddish word mensch. Someone whose humanity shines through the darkness of this world. Someone who believes in the fundamental goodness of life and embodies it. Not despite challenging experiences, but as the result of having practiced facing them with courage and kindness.

    Mirabai Starr, Ordinary Mysticism
  • coffee life,  latte art,  quotes

    The beginning of love…

    The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them.

    Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
  • landscape,  sunrises

    The mystery of infinite possibilities

    If it is true that we are made out of love to be love then our possibilities can be infinite…

    mws

    I have always been an early riser but with aging and the shift in my circadian rhythm, I invariably rise before the sun rises. I’m okay with that. But, that also means I post a lot of sunrise images. It is in these hours of silence, solitude and fatigue that I am learning to fully listen to the voice of love within me. It even seems to be louder and more persistent as time goes on. I hope I’m not rattling people’s cages when talking about love in our current political environment of hatred, self-interest and chaos. Many are in a place of grief, fear, and dismay. I can find myself going there quickly but thankfully not camping there, finding more restful and peaceful places to live. Writing this out is one of my tools. The above quote rattled around in my head last night and would not let me go back to sleep until I got up and wrote it down. I am at a place where possibilities are beyond and greater than my imagination, and maybe yours, also. I find myself full of questions and almost no answers while experiencing an unexpected gift of contentment, some inner okayness. And the questions come. What if a change in people’s hearts “is” a real possibility? What if the voices of hatred, chaos, drama, fear, greed can be silenced through love? What if letting go of our old patterns of thinking that power, money and privilege will bring peace, community, justice and the end of war? Because it never has! What if we let go of our finite thinking, which is often based in fear, and embrace the possibilities we’ve never dreamed of? What if we are made with love to be love? What if we let go of what we think are the only possibilities and embrace the mystery of infinite possibilities? Thanks for listening and I hope this has not been too confusing.

  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes,  reflections

    The scent of the rain

    As I stepped out the door this morning I was greeted with a chorus of robins announcing the new day. Now a gentle rain falls, spreading it’s refreshing scent into the lives of all of creation. In these moments I feel alive, renewed, as I enter into the mystery of this new day. This day began with quiet prayer and meditation time, an Old Town Mocha made by Adriana, then coffee and conversation with Jeff. My intent for the day is to live with some peace and calm, separate from the chaos and drama that society seems addicted to. I know of no better teacher and friend to experience this serenity with than staying close to nature. Did I mention I love the scent of the rain?

    Reflections in Big Bass Pond

    I took a stroll around Big Bass Pond at Arapaho Bend Natural Area yesterday afternoon to enjoy the silence and solitude of that sacred place. Behind me were a couple of nesting eagles. I want to believe their shrill calls are shouts of happiness for the egg or two sitting in their nest. May you have a wonderful Friday!

    How we think ripples out to how we behave.

    Robin Wall Kimmerer
  • clouds,  landscape,  natural areas,  quotes,  sunrises

    … re-imagining and reweaving of the world

    I keep imagining how the time of collapse and chaos can also be a radical period of re-imagination and potential renewal… precisely in the midst of chaos each of us may be closer to finding a particular thread that gives our life genuine meaning and also gives us something to contribute to the re-imagining and reweaving of the world.

    Michael Meade

    My hope “is” in the re-imagining and reweaving of the world. The old way of thinking has never worked. Hope you have a wonderful day!